Pete Rose. Talk about thunder thighs. That guy was a beast.

What about Wilt and Bill Russel?

Bill Russel has like what... 12 rings?

While Wilt through down over 100 in a game... and they had to change the rules... specifically because he was so good.

Hmm, I remember someone saying there is no I in team against Michael Jorden and Michael responded with "but there are 2 i's in I win"

That's like the best response ever made in history xD

Interesting that, from a view internet searches, the assumption is all the greatest athletes were from approx 1920s onwards.

I know 'top' lists skew heavily to the more recent entrants, but it does seem a little biased to say the least.

I'm going with an original pick here.

WG Grace. The man is by far and away the greatest cricketer of all time, cricket is the greatest sport of all time. Add the two up and you get the greatest sportsman of all time.

Edit: Also, the entire hard and soft drug definition is arbitrary but I wouldn't consider alcohol to be on it. Yes alcohol is a harmful drug when abused, however comparing it to cocaine is stupid as cocaine is both more harmful and more addictive. There is also the fact that alcohol consumed in reasonable quantities can have high health benefits with very little negative effects (it doesn't start damaging your liver at all until you're hitting 30 units a week, though increased cancer risk is proportional to consumption).

The problem with alcohol is that because it is pretty much the only legal drug its the one that people often start to abuse, and once you become an alcoholic it just completely screws you over.

Michael Schumacher, Ali, Mike Tyson, O'Sullivan, Phelps, Usian Bolt, Pele, George Best, Arnold Schwarzenegger

Schumi is making a come back :)

Lets hope his come back is as good as the one from Lance Armstrong.

What sport did Schwarzenegger do lol?

Don Bradman, no one has ever come close to his batting average over a career, even the best modern day players and greatest run scorers of all time are barely over half what he averaged.

Michael Jordan was my first thought, but there are others with comparable records

How is a cheat and a drug addict the greatest pro athlete?

Anyway, for me it will always be Ali.

I'd have to go with Wayne Gretzky, no one dominated his sport in terms of stats compared to other greats within their own respective sports.

His numbers were mind boggling.